BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
Three founding members of the Africa Investment Forum signed memoranda of understanding worth over $1 billion with the Export-Import Bank of the United States to expand American trade and investment in Africa.
AIF sealed the deal during the recently concluded U.S-Africa Leaders’ Summit in the United States, noting that the deal will help advance key infrastructure projects for the continent.
Exim President and Chair, Reta Jo Lewis, signed the agreement with the heads of the African Export-Import Bank, Africa Finance Corporation, and Africa50 at the three-day US-Africa Leaders Forum convened by the Biden Administration on 13 December 2022.
The US-Africa engagement took place amid global fragility and as Africa faces an infrastructure financing gap estimated at more than $100 billion per year.
Chair Lewis last November led an EXIM delegation to the Africa Investment Forum’s 2022 Market Days in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where the relationship with the three institutions was consolidated.
“The partnerships we are establishing today are very much a demonstration of EXIM’s commitment to resetting and renewing our outreach efforts with Africa,” Lewis said in remarks at the signing in Washington, DC.
She said while collaboration with Africa is one of EXIM’s mandates, it is also a Biden-Harris Administration priority, “one that we are dedicated to fulfilling in support of the advancement of U.S. exports.”
During the event, African Development Bank Group Senior Director Chinelo Anohu, who heads the Africa Investment Forum, built on the momentum of the 2022 Africa Investment Forum Market Days(link is external) – which drew $31 billion of investment interest – meeting with business leaders to explore further investment opportunities to close Africa’s infrastructure gap.
She spoke about the significance of strengthening the partnerships between the Africa Investment Forum, American government institutions, and the US private sector. The forum brought together U.S. and African business and civil society leaders, media, and members of the diaspora in Washington, D.C.
Earlier in the week, EXIM named Anohu as one of the 15 global women leaders of its Council for Advancing Women in Business, launched during its 2022 Annual Conference. The Council will play a key role in supporting EXIM’s gender equity goals.
